The subject matter disclosed herein relates to mixed signal circuitry, such as circuitry used to perform analog-to-digital conversion.
In modern medicine, medical professionals routinely conduct patient imaging examinations to assess the internal tissue of a patient in a non-invasive manner. Furthermore, for industrial applications related to security or quality control, screeners may desire to non-invasively assess the contents of a container (e.g., a package or a piece of luggage) or the internal structure of a manufactured part. Accordingly, for medical, security, and industrial applications, X-ray and other imaging techniques may be useful for noninvasively characterizing the internal composition of a volume of interest.
X-ray imaging techniques typically involves the generation of X-rays from a source, such as an X-ray tube. The X-rays pass through a volume undergoing imaging in which the patient or object being imaged is situated. As the X-rays pass through the volume, they may be differentially absorbed as they pass through the patient or object. The X-rays subsequently impact a radiation detector that, through various mechanisms, may generate electrical signals that correspond to the incidence of X-rays at different locations on the detector surface.
Typically the initial signal is analog in nature and analog-to-digital conversion circuitry may be employed to convert the analog signal to digital signals that are more suitable for subsequent image processing steps. The analog-to-digital conversion process may be implemented on an integrated circuit component which, by the nature of the operation, works on both analog and digital signals at varying locations. However, such a mixed signal implementation may be problematic in a circuit. For example, digital signals handled in the circuit may propagate into the analog input channels of the circuit, such as through the wiring leads or through the circuit itself, thereby negatively impacting the performance of the mixed signal circuit.